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SEMI reported that worldwide semiconductor manufacturing equipment billings reached US$9.52 billion in the first quarter of 2015, 7% higher than the fourth quarter of 2014 and 6% lower than the same quarter a year ago.

Worldwide semiconductor equipment bookings were $9.66 billion in 1Q’15, 2% lower than the same quarter a year ago and 3% lower than 4Q’14.

PC Inventory Issue Growing Serious in Europe

First-tier PC vendors reportedly are seeing serious inventory issues in Europe and may try to digest the inventory by offering price cuts. At the same time, some channel retailers are reacting to the news by boycotting the vendors and avoiding having inventory dumped on them, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.

The worldwide wearable device market (commonly referred to as wearables) recorded its eighth consecutive quarter of steady growth in the first quarter of 2015 (1Q’15). According to IDC vendors shipped a total of 11.4 million wearables in 1Q’15, a 200% increase from the 3.8 million wearables shipped in 1Q’14.

"Bucking the post-holiday decline normally associated with the first quarter is a strong sign for the wearables market," said Ramon Llamas, research manager, Wearables. "It demonstrates growing end-user interest and the vendors' ability to deliver a diversity of devices and experiences. In addition, demand from emerging markets is on the rise and vendors are eager to meet these new opportunities.

"What remains to be seen is how Apple's arrival will change the landscape," added Llamas. "The Apple Watch will likely become the device that other wearables will be measured against, fairly or not. This will force the competition to up their game in order to stay on the leading edge of the market."

"As with any young market, price erosion has been quite drastic," said Jitesh Ubrani, senior research analyst, Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers. "We now see over 40% of the devices priced under $100, and that's one reason why the top five vendors have been able to grow their dominance from two thirds of the market in the first quarter of last year to three quarters this quarter. Despite this price erosion, Apple's entrance with a product priced at the high end of the spectrum will test consumers' willingness to pay a premium for a brand or product that is the center of attention."

SSDs Exceed 30% Market Penetration in Notebooks (Chart 28)

DRAMeXchange, a division of TrendForce, reported that prices for solid-state drive (SSD) products are declining at an accelerated pace as the production of NAND flash migrates to the 15/16nm manufacturing processes and incorporates the 3D-NAND flash technology.

The average contract price for 128GB Client-SSDs made by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) has dropped to US$50 in the second quarter, while 256GB Client-SSDs have seen their average contract price lowered to nearly US$90. In the third quarter, the ratio of 3D-NAND flash products in shipments will start to increase and the market penetration of notebook SSDs will speed up.

According to DRAMeXchange’s projection, notebook SSDs’ market penetration will be over 30% for 2015 and surpass 50% by 2017.

Walt D. Custer

Walt Custer is an industry analyst focused on the global electronics industry. Prior to forming Custer Consulting Group he was Vice President of Marketing and Sales for Morton Electronic Materials, a global supplier of specialty chemicals and process equipment for the PCB industry.

Custer has been a member of the IPC trade organization since 1975 where he received both the President's and the Raymond E. Pritchard Hall of Fame Awards. He is currently a member of the IPC Executive Market & Technology Steering Committee. Custer is also a Director of the EIPC European PCB trade organization.

He authors regular “Market Outlook” columns for Global SMT & Packaging magazine, the Journal of the HKPCA and the TTI MarketEYE website.